there's plenty of testing to be done by all these cross. you might want to hold off until the technology's been proven before you book your next holiday in space. exciting times. you can always keep up with the news on our website, aljazeera.com. a somber day at the supreme court. you are looking at live pictures. the nation remembers justice antonin scalia. the hearse has just arrived at the court. his body will lie in repose today. you are watching aljazeera

america live from new york city, i'm stephanie sy. again what you're watching right now is supreme court justice antonin scalia's casket being removed from the hearse at the supreme court today, his body will lie in repose. after a private ceremony, the public will be allowed to file past the casket in a public viewing. the casket of justice antonin scalia right now being moved to the supreme court where he served for so long as one of the most conservative voices in the court. president obama and other leaders will pay respects today. his colleagues will be expected today. libby casey has been covering this from washington. good morning, tell us about today's ceremony. >> the body of antonin scalia will lie in the great hall of

the supreme court and his body will be placed on the same cataflak that held president lincoln's body. supreme court justice, family, a prayer will be read, there will be a short ceremony. later today, the doors of the supreme court will open and the public will be able to file past and pay their respects, having a moment with both the casket as well as a portrait of the late supreme court justice. we do expect president obama and the first lady to attend and pay their respects later on this afternoon. you can see a lot of formality today, a lot of ceremony. members of the public are already lining up outside so they can pay their respects ins about an hour's time. >> what we are watching here, the supreme court police officers are serving as the paul

bearers, but scalia's law clerks will also serve as honorary paul bearers and one of his law clerks tweeted out yesterday that as part of tradition, he will stand with his fellow law clerks vigil by scalia's side at the court all day throughout today, and actually through the night. the public viewing will go on for quite some time today. 10:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. >> that's right. this will be an opportunity, as we said for the public to filter through. the actually funeral will be tomorrow. that will be a private affair. president obama does not plan on attending the funeral tomorrow, stephanie. instead, vice president biden will be there to represent the administration. the white house has said that the vice president had a relationship with justice scalia and his family. they've also said that the security footprint will be lighter, so it won't interfere as much with tomorrow's funeral.

justice scalia was a devout catholic. his son, one of his sons is actually a catholic priest and will give the homily tomorrow. he is waiting at the top of the supreme court steps for his father's casket. the justice had nine children in all, 36 grandchildren. a lot of family on hand both today and tomorrow. >> his son, father paul scalia, as you said will deliver the funeral mass tomorrow. you talk about the controversy that is surrounding president obama's decision not to attend the funeral, is it customary libby, for penalties to attend the deaths of a supreme court justice? >> we've only seen four justices die while still sitting on the bench in 65 years. when justice rehnquist died, chief justice, of course, president bush did attend that fub rely, but it's not always done. president eisenhower was in office when two justices died. he went to the funeral of one,

not the other. this is an individual decision that the white house can make and the white house said they believe the way to pay their respects is to have the president attend the viewing. there is political pushback, some critical of the president's choice not dog to the funeral tomorrow. one is ted cruz, of course running for president. he has criticized the president for not going. he was planning to go himself but now changed his plans. he will leave the campaign trail to attended the funeral. he does clearly have a relationship with justice scalia and the supreme court. >> there has been commentary criticizing how quickly mitch mcconnell came out discussing who would replace justice scalia

hours after he was found dead on a the accident ranch. today is the day for the supreme court family to honor him, but is your sense there in washington that the politics continue or that today can be a day of somber remembrance? >> 30 years on the bench, and certainly justice scalia, whether you agreed with his opinions or not, has done so much to form the laws of our nation for decades now. one of his closest friends is justice ginsburg, ruth bader ginsburg. they were friends in terms of their personalities. a lot of people are thinking about that today. this is washington and politics are not entirely set aside. just this morning, mcconnell connell has a piece in the washington post, an op ed that he co wrote and they say while

president obama may try to name a successor for justice scalia, the senate can reject it. republicans are sending more signals that they plan to reject anyone that president obama proposes. president obama saying earlier this week that he still has a year in office, 11 months left before he leaves the white house and he certainly does plan to use that time to continue governing and he expects the is senate to do the same. you see the eight remaining justice there flanking the casket. talk to us a little bit more about what we're seeing. >> this is an opportunity for the court family to pay their respects and have a moment

shared together where they can come and unit as a community. this is not part of the ceremony open to the public. this is for members of the court, court staff and family. we will see a prayer, a reading and then around 10:30, the doors will open for the public to come in. it's a symbol of both the intimate family that the court is but also it's the people's court, the fact that the american public can line up and filter through and have the opportunity to pay their respects certainly does speak to both the significance of the court but also an attempt to open up the walls and allow the american public to share in this moment. >> it's a great point, because a lot of times people think of the supreme court as kind of untouchable, as well as the executive office. i covered the funeral of president ford when he died, and it was the same, where of course, the president lies in state understand the public is

allowed to go in and pass byes casket. they will be passing by a 2007 portrait of justice scalia by the artist nelson shenks p.m. you can see the camera panning to the justice. libby, going back to sort of the political conversation as we look at now a split court, the stakes are very high with the surprise death of justice scalia. you now have the ideological balance of the court at stake. >> absolutely. we are used to seeing justice kennedy often be a swing vote, but he is essentially an ideological conservative, so the court is now split 4-4. as the camera pans the justice, we so rarely see them out of their robes and you can see them there in mourning clothes, humanizing them really for this moment. we usually see them in the

formality, the setting of the court itself. you can see the prayer starting here now. the politics of this, though, not inconsequential. it is so heightened right now. >> interesting you talk about the catholicism of justice scalia. he needed a point to separate in many ways his faith from his jurisprudence. a lot of people, although justice scalia had received a lot of criticism for some of of the scathing dissents he had written, for example in june in the overfell case that legalized gay marriage, that when people talk about justice scalia in personal terms, they're actually really glowing terms. >> well, that's right, because he was such a great conversationalist and so engaging and dynamic. as you read about court history and i've had the opportunity and

privilege to sit in on some of the oral arguments of supreme court cases over the last few years, justice scalia just drives right in there and asks questions of the lawyers who are arguing the case before the court. manual the nerves that it takes to go before this body and begin oral arguments and justice scalia often times wouldn't let a lawyer get five words out of their mouth before he would pepper them with questions. that's a style he really brought to the court. it wasn't like that prior to his tenure on the court and now many of the justice engage in that same way. it's incredibly dynamic, very rich. it's like sitting in on a law class with some of the smartest minds of your generation, and that style of questioning and answering and engaging intellectually was something that justice scalia really brought to this current court. >> that is his son, father paul

scalia that is speaking there. you're right, libby, justice scalia did have a way with words. he was known to be a worth smith. in his passing, we are learning more about him as a family man. i don't think i knew -- did you say he had nine children? >> that's right, nine children, 36 grandchildren, yes, absolutely, a big family man, a huge partly of his life. yeah. >> we're going to take a short break here. you are watching live coverage of the beginning of the day in which justice antonin scalia will lie in repose in the supreme court. this was supposed to be a private ceremony, but we're getting live pictures out of it, so we'll stay with that as long as we can, but we've got to take a short break here and we'll see you on the other side.

switching to presidential politics for a moment. the can't dates today doubling down ahead of a crucial weekend. the democratic caucuses in nevada and south carolina gop primary both happen tomorrow. last night the candidates were at dueling town halls. the event with the republicans got pretty feisty. >> the final hours here in south carolina as the gop and the horse race will go at it here on

friday. now, new numbers out at the polls. donald trump, 28% today versus january of 36%, so he's dropped fairly significantly, according to the wall street journal. ted cruz, 23% today and that's up from 20% in january, so he is approaching donald trump, that should be close. also, marco rubio and 15% today. he was at 14% in january according to the wall street journal. now a feisty town hall meeting last night, thursday, as cnn host that had. let's listen to donald trump talking about political account correctness. >> we have to be tough to protect our country. i have a great temperament. you don't build a great country and especially a company with very little dent and all the things, i have employees that have been with me for many, many years, long term employees. they are great people and been with me for a long time but we need a certain toughness.

>> former governor jeb bush who many expect to be a front runner in this election cycle has been trailing the entire time and he went out defending his election campaign. >> well, i do have momentum if you look at the polls and you look at the crowdies of our town hall meetings and the enthusiasm that exists. i'm proud that lindsey graham is supporting me. he could have support two colleagues, ted cruz and marco rubio. he's worked with them in the united states senate. he chose me because he believes i would be ready to serve on day one at commander-in-chief. >> what makes south korea different nan iowa and new hampshire? more delegates at stake here. there are more veterans that will vote. there is the african-american vote, and of course, this is just a different place in the country, different geography than the middle, iowa and new hampshire. we'll be watching this as the voters hit the polls tomorrow in south carolina.

>> robert ray reporting from colombia. as for the democrats, there are conflicting results in the national polls. bernie sanders is shown with 42% from democrats anyways wide but a fox news national poll shows a closer race with sanders slightly ahead of clinton for the first time. they took questions from voters at a town hall in las vegas thursday night. >> both democratic candidates hillary clinton and bernie sanders got a chance to sit down and answer questions from an audience made up of many latino voters here in nevada. of course while immigration isn't the only issue of concern to latino voters in this state or in the united states, it is certainly something that they wanted to chance to talk with these candidates about. bernie sanders went first and was asked what he would do to change this and how quickly he would do that. >> my immigration policy is to

unite families, not to divide families. when i was here in las vegas a couple of months ago, i heard a story, a young man who was in the united states military while he was in the united states military, his wife was deported. can you believe that? all right. clearly those are not the policies that i want to see and i will change those policies. >> how long, when you change, how long when you get there, how long would it take to change those appealses? because i've been waiting six years, six years out of my life. >> we will use our executive office and power as much as we can. hopefully we'll have the cooperation of the united states congress. >> sanders wasn't the only one to feel the urgency of these voters. it then went to hillary clinton. hillary clinton was asked about

doca, keeping families together and how she would prioritize it. >> on two paths, on a separate piece of legislation and part of comprehensive immigration reform, but we've got to get rid of it. i met a young dreamer. she was brought her when she was seven months old. she has a younger sister who is a citizen, her father is a legal resident, her mother is undocumented. her mother cannot leave their family for three or 10 years to go back to where she came from, leaving her family and her daughters alone to wait until she can get in line to be able to come back. it makes no sense. it breaks up families. it is burdensome. we're going to end it and i'm going to do everything i can to end it as soon as possible. >> one quick follow up. you promised to deal with immigration reform within the first 100 days. >> absolutely and we're going to introduce legislation. i'm going to call everybody on the committee, democrats and

republicans alike. >> within 100 days. >> yeah, i'm going to in produce my priority legislation and this i also at the top of that list. >> a day before the sad caucuses here in nevada, both candidates got a chance to appeal to the latino voters. they make up 28% of the population in nevada and that's not lost on either of these candidates. >> michael shure reporting. in south carolina, hillary clinton is expect to pick up a big endorsement today from long serving congressman jim cliburn, the third rankest democratic in the house and highest ranking african-american in congress. burning back to the supreme court where the body of justice antonin scalia is now lying in repose. libby casey is in washington again. tell us what we have seen so far this morning and what we will be expecting later today. >> stephanie, the body of justice scalia is now in the great hall of the supreme court. it's resting on the same

pedestal that held the body of president abraham lincoln. in just a little while, the public will be allowed to come through and pay their respects, seeing bolt the casket as well as a portrait of justice scalia. we just so you one of his sons, he has nine children, one son who is a priest just shared prayers, including the lord's prayer. we saw the supreme court justice, those sitting as well as retired justice there paying respects as well as family members of justice scalia. the funeral takes place tomorrow. that will be private. president obama does not plan to attend tomorrow's funeral, but vice president biden will be there representing the administration. the penalty and the first lady do plan to come to the court today to pay their respects along with americans. there's already a line of people waiting outside the court to come by and pay their respects, stephanie. >> again, the doors will open to those people waiting to pass by

antonin scalia's casket at 10:3. libby casey, thank you. we'll be right back.

al jazeera america. the pentagon says it is investigating the results of a series of airstrikes that hit libya this morning. at least 30 people died. american aircraft carried out the attack on an isil training camp near the tunisian border.

the pentagon said strikes likely killed a senior isil member believed to have helped plan two deadly attacks last year in tunisia. the u.s. and russia officials met in tunisia to discuss a pause in the ongoing conflict in syria. a truce was supposed to take effect this weekend but now appears to be on hold. a former assistant secretary of state was our guest. >> i believe that this administration feels that a political settlement is what we ought to be aiming for now. there ought to be military pressure on isis, but at this time, we don't want to be attacking a sovereign nation an its leader. much like we had in bosnia, the u.s. policy i also let's get a political settlement first and then go in as peace enforcement troops, rather than go in to

syria trying to do a regime change operation. the pros and cons to both arguments unfortunately used to be the people that are suffering are the hundreds of thousands if not million was syrian civilians. >> he said the administration is likely to resist a no fly zone because that could esmil tear intervention in syria. it should soon cast less for cable, cutting cost to boost competition. not everyone's onboard. al jazeera's hermela aregawi that the story. >> the s.c.c. ma signed off toward cutting fees and cable bills. customers could get a box and services from alternative providers like apple, google or tivo. >> the issue is whether you are forced to rent that box every

month after month after month or whether you are forced to rent that app every month after month after month. congress was clear. they said there should be competition. >> a congressional study found subscribers pay an average of $231 a year to rent their cable boxes. some $20 billion annually is generated. the plan would reduce costs for customers. >> costs are high, innovation is slow and and competition is too limited. >> two of the commissioners, both republicans, voted no. >> it doubles down on the necessity of having a box, suffering one intrusive regulatory regime for another. it would introduce an entirely new set of boxes into consumers homes. >> ty suggested getting rid of the boxes altogether. a coalition has been formed against the proposal, sake the

measure would increase costs and allow tech companies to poach t.v. programming. in a letter total commission, several t.v. executives say the plan is stacking the deck against creators by giving tech companies a license to repackage and profit from our work without any need to negotiate much less pay for rights. more cob assumers are doing away with cable and cutting the cord. american 80% of homes pay for broad band internet and more than half of homes subscribe to streaming service p.m. hermela aregawi, al jazeera. another live look at the supreme court where justice antonin scalia is now lying in repose. right now, his clerks are standing watch around the casket as the staff prepares for the public viewing set to begin in 30 minutes. thousands are expected to pay respects to the late justice antonin scalia. thanks for watching, the news continues next live from doha.

>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello there, welcome to the news hour. i'm laura kyle live from our al jazeera headquarters in doha. coming up in the next 60 minutes. the u.s. carrying out air strikes targeting isil fighters in libya. uganda's opposition leader is arrested again. the long time president has a clear lead in early counting. egyptian president sisi proposes a